A Chat With the Red Death
by Mariphasa Hecatene
Summary: Ciel, Grell, and the one they loved.


_A Chat With the Red Death_ - October 2010

Final version: October 3rd, 6:36 AM

Because I just couldn't shake the feeling that the two people who were closest to Madam Red might have something to say to each other...no matter what their circumstances.

Usual Disclaimer: I do not own the characters, situations, or title of the wonderful Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler, which all belong to Yana Toboso, bless her soul. I've just been overwhelmed with inspirations regarding them for the past week or so...

(And I have no idea who Sebastian is fighting with while they talk. Maybe it'll come to me eventually. =)

* * *

"So, Cielu-chan," said the shinigami, "It's certainly time we had a chance to chat." He arranged himself more comfortably and beamed, apparently having no idea how disconcerting his sharklike grin might be. "I know I certainly have some questions."

"Don't call me that." Ciel sighed peevishly. Bad enough he had to stay here under this creature's protection - if that was even a good idea - but if it was going to want to converse…

"Oh all right, Earl," Grell rolled his eyes. "First one! 'Fess up now, you don't really care a thing for your little snip of a girlfriend, do you?"

"My fiancee', you mean." Ciel set his top hat in his lap and leaned his chin on top of it. He didn't know how Grell even knew about Elizabeth, and decided he didn't want to. "And I never said I did; it was our parents' idea."

"Aah! I knew it! Oh, my poor heart!" The shinigami pressed a melodramatic hand to his brow. "It's really my Sebas-chan you love, isn't it? That's why he never has any time for—"

"Don't be absurd. I don't love anyone."

"—eh? " The redhead, stopped in mid-angst, blinked in surprise. "No one?"

"It's just foolishness. I've got no use for it."

A puzzled, thoughtful cock of the head. "That's awfully harsh for someone your age."

"I suppose." Ciel leaned into the hat and closed his eyes. "But I don't expect to live long, so I don't like to waste time."

"Well… that might be it," said Grell, clearly doubtful. "We live forever, so we're always looking for things to take up our time. The same as demons, I imagine."

He was silent long enough that Ciel congratulated himself on having ended the conversation, but after another minute of quiet…

"Did you love your aunt?"

Ciel stared at the brazen creature in outrage, prepared to snap its head off for daring to mention the late Madam, but—to his surprise— Grell was not looking at him, his head lowered, gloved fingers running lightly over the wicked edge of his chainsaw.

"She loved you," he added, "you were the only human being she cared for."

Ciel had been around demons long enough to catch the meaning of the careful turn of phrase, and stopped in midthought, surprised. Had there been - he'd never imagined it, but - something besides bloody madness in his aunt's partnership with the Death God?

It seemed to deserve an honest answer, and he gave one. "I…yes. Yes, I did." He looked off into space, remembering. "She was the last person left from when I was a child, so I think I loved her from back then…when I could still feel that way. She's the last one. But… yes." It was good to be able to say it. "I wish we hadn't parted as adversaries, but I still do love her."

"That's how I feel too," the shinigami said quietly, and sighed. "I wish...I mean, we understood each other so well. Or...so I thought..." A quick glance into the distance as sounds of the battle came to them; then he grinned rakishly. "And of course we looked _fabulous _together."

"You did, at that. " Ciel had to admit they had: a most stylish couple, elegant in scarlet head to toe, bloodstains included…

_But you killed her. Because she wouldn't kill me. Is that...just a weight in the balance, for a Death God?_

"They tried to bury her in white, you know. White flowers… I put a stop to it. She'd never have stood for that."

"_Cielu—"_ Grell looked as if he were about to cry; Ciel raised a hand.

"Please. I just - I did what was right. For her."

The shinigami was studying his face, those unnerving green-in-green eyes fixed straight into his. Ciel, accustomed to the mesmerizing intensity of an immortal's gaze, could still feel its tug at the corners of his mind, and wondered how it had felt to Madam. Had she felt, he suddenly wondered, as Ciel himself often did – that this daemon was her only friend, her only confidante? This inhuman creature, who was almost certain to be her death, as his demon was his?

If he and his aunt could have talked, shared each other's secrets, might things have gone differently...?

'I've decided!" Grell burst out suddenly, and to Ciel's shock he swept him up in a big hug, rocking him like a favorite doll. "You and I ought to be friends, Cielu-chan! _Best_ friends – it's what Madam would want. I'm _sure_ it is." Long, black-gloved fingers tousled his hair; Ciel was too stunned even to splutter.

"And really – even with your unfortunate preference for blue – " this _feeling_, the long fingers holding his chin, the strange, wistful jade eyes on his- "you are so _very _much like her."

He ought to smack the impertinent thing and insist it unhand him, this minute. Of course he should.

He had no idea why he didn't.

But in the next instant Grell squeaked in alarm and hastily set him down as Sebastian swept in, coat torn and a streak of blood on his cheek. "Grell-san, bring the Death Scythe – I have them, but we need to see their memories at once—"

The demon leapt away, and Grell grinned and scooped Ciel back up again, preparing to bound off after him. "Best friends, then!"

Ciel got an arm around the redhead's neck and sat back for the ride.


End file.
